


Remember?

by anasticklefics



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Gen, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 17:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30143013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anasticklefics/pseuds/anasticklefics
Summary: “Changing the subject again,” Ben said, cocking his head at him. “You used to do that when we were kids, too.”“Some things never change,” Beverly said. “Has this one not changed either, Richie?”Richie knew it would be stupid to ask, but he felt extremely stupid in that moment. “This one, what?”(Or, Mike takes the Losers to the Barrens and they start remembering things, such as Richie being incredibly ticklish and not minding them tickling him at all.)
Kudos: 11





	Remember?

Richie expected a flood of memories to wash over him when Mike took them to the Barrens, but that wasn’t how it happened. The feeling of the place was familiar, and he suddenly knew this had been their spot; their haven during a summer that took too much and gave them even more. But for a moment he couldn’t think of a particular situation they’d shared, until they started pointing things out. _There’s the hammock. There’re the bathing caps._ He couldn’t figure out whether the slow realizations were worse than the idea of an overwhelmingly speedy reminder of a life he’d forgotten.

“Remember this?” Mike was pointing at something on the ground, and Richie nearly asked him to stop, stop, please stop, it’s too fucking much all at once, and then he looked anyway.

“A rotting comic book?”

“One of Eddie’s. Remember?” Mike sounded eager; eager for them to remember all he’d never forgotten. “He would bring a stack of them for us to read.” He turned toward Eddie who was blinking in sudden realization.

“I thought I lost that one,” he said, crouching to pick it up and stopping once he realized how unsanitary that would be, or so Richie assumed. “Shit, Mike, I-”

“W-wait.” Bill moved closer to look at it. “I r-remember this. I r-remember I once caught Richie r-reading it in here alone.”

Eddie rounded on Richie. “It was fucking you?”

Richie remembered. Remembered not returning it when Eddie was leaving that day. Remembered putting leaves over it to hide it. Remembered smelling it when he was alone because it smelled like Eddie used to; a scent so odd he’d never forget it now that he remembered it. Something clinically clean, combined with pre-teen summer-sweat they all shared, and something uniquely Eddie.

He raised his hands. “It was still in here! Can’t blame me for not looking. Also, how the fuck should I know you were looking for it. For all I know you left it here on purpose. Shit, you can’t be mad nearly 30 years later.”

Ben clapped him on the back. “You sound oddly defensive, Rich.”

“I’m being accused of misconduct! I’m not just gonna take it.”

“Like you used to take tickle attacks, you mean?” Beverly’s words were sudden, random, but it was as if she dumped a bucket of memories into each of their heads simultaneously. “Remember?” she asked, her grin so wide Richie nearly felt flustered. “We’d attack you to get you to shut up and you never protested. Barely fought back.”

“Oh, _right_.” Richie didn’t like Ben’s grin either. “And you’d never admit it when we brought it up.”

“I think you’re mixing me up with someone else,” Richie said drily, though he couldn’t stop avoiding their eyes. “Like, I don’t know, Eddie?”

“E-eddie screamed b-bloody murder if we touched him,” Bill said, and even though the grin was kinder and aimed in Eddie’s direction Richie hated how much it affected him. “Though I r-remember that n-never s-stopped you.”

“You had moments where you would attack us,” Mike said, recalling it. “But when we got you you never tried to turn the tables.”

Richie pointed at him. “I hate you. This is your fault.”

Beverly let out a laugh. “Oh, Richie, don’t get embarrassed. It was sweet.”

“No. _Eddie_ was sweet. Mike with his dimples was sweet. I? I was _sexy_.”

Ben crossed his arms. “I see you’re changing the subject.”

Richie huffed, but didn’t reply. Truth was he could remember it vividly himself; provoking Eddie because he was a vicious tickler simply because he thought it would keep him from being tickled back, provoking Bill because he was merciless when he teased. Beverly never not going for the kill when she got involved, Mike laughing so hard along with him while Ben cheered him on and making it nearly worse. And Stan? Stan was always gentler about it, in a very ticklish way. Would always trap his wrists in a grip Richie could never break and poke at his sides until he apologized for whatever he’d said, which never happened. He rarely did more, but it was enough.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet,” Bill said, and Richie noticed he didn’t stutter, but that thought was quickly derailed when he noticed they’d all crept closer to him. “Is something the matter?”

“You’ve picked up too many British phrases over there, big Bill.”

“Changing the subject again,” Ben said, cocking his head at him. “You used to do that when we were kids, too.”

“Some things never change,” Beverly said. “Has this one not changed either, Richie?”

Richie knew it would be stupid to ask, but he felt extremely stupid in that moment. “This one, what?”

It was weird, being a grown up man and getting tickled by his childhood friends he hadn’t seen in 27 years, but it also felt- right? Like, right enough for him to not want to get away.

What the fuck.

They weren’t being too mean about it - though Richie’s embarrassment would beg to differ - and had only surrounded him but not trapped him. It would be easy, so easy, to break away and escape. A step to the side, focusing on fighting off one of them for long enough to flee, but Richie didn’t, just like he never had.

He remembered how safe he’d feel. How he trusted them so completely to allow them to do this. 27 years and the return of his childhood memories and that seemed to have not changed.

Bill, miraculously, was the one to attack first; fingertips on Richie’s sides in motions that felt so familiar, despite how long it had been. Richie distinctly remembered how good he’d been at it due to how much practice he’d gotten with Georgie. The perfect big brother hands, big and secure and unbearable as he went for your sensitive spots with an accompanying smirk.

“Y-you okay there?” he asked, his teasing the worst one because it was always so considerate. “You’re g-giggling.”

The others followed suit once Bill had got him going; Beverly on his neck with her stupidly nimble fingers, Ben worming his way under his arms in an oddly confident manner. Mike had gone for his belly, his wiggling fingers brief and mostly aiming to tease him just a little as he laughed.

And Eddie? That fucker was trying to lift his leg to tickle his foot for some fucking reason.

“I’m wearing _shoes_ ,” he bellowed, finding it important for some reason.

“I’m trying to take them off,” Eddie called back, and the whole thing was so surreal Richie had a brief panic that this was all It’s weird ass hallucination.

But none of it was torturous, so it couldn’t be It.

He fell down, maybe to grant Eddie his wish, but if anyone asked he’d say he tripped. The Losers mostly stopped at that, laughing fondly at him, with Eddie giving up on his quest and instead attacking his knees while Beverly gave his ears a quick flutter of her fingers. Richie couldn’t stop fucking giggling.

“This is c-cute,” Bill said, grabbing his phone. “I need to document it.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare, Bill- Jesus, stop, stop!”

“That’s the first time you asked us to stop in the past 30 years,” Beverly said, stopping all the same.

“He probably got performance anxiety from the camera,” Eddie replied, giving his knees one last squeeze. “Isn’t that so, Richie?”

“I will murder you all.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “When one poke got you giggling? I don’t think so.”

“Okay, okay, but you would scream when we tickled you.” Richie sat up, trying to rub the ghost tickles off of his skin. “Remember?”

Ben let out a laugh. “I don’t think you’re getting out of this one, Rich,” he said, offering him his hand to pull him up. “Just accept defeat.”

Richie deflated, but Beverly grabbed his arm and squeezed it. “Don’t sulk. This stays between us.”

“That’s not a consolation.”

Only it was and they all knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is [here](https://anasticklefics.tumblr.com)!


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